Now people who are fighting to protect Chaco Canyon have more time to speak out against a dangerous plan that would bring MORE fracking to the region...
John,
We got Secretary Bernhardt to back down!
Last month, over 12,000 Food & Water Action supporters like you sent emails to Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. You urged him to stop silencing Indigenous voices and to extend the comment period for the land management plan that would bring thousands of more fracking wells to the Greater Chaco Region.
The very next day after getting your letters, Secretary Bernhardt announced an extension to the comment period for this disastrous fracking plan!
This decision wouldn't have happened without your support.
Now people who are fighting to protect Chaco and the communities impacted, like the Navajo Nation, have more time to speak out against this dangerous plan.
Plans to continue leasing and drilling in the Greater Chaco Area are explained in a draft Plan Amendment by the Bureau of Land Management, which would open up nearly a million acres of land for drilling, much of which is in or near the Navajo Nation.
If you haven't already seen in the news, right now the Navajo Nation is being hit exceptionally hard by COVID-19, with the highest rate of infection per capita in the country.¹
Since it's the Bureau of Land Management's legal obligation to engage impacted communities, we first demanded an extension from Secretary Bernhardt of the Department of the Interior, which is the parent agency of the Bureau.
Making the impacts of the pandemic even worse, air quality concerns due to decades of oil and gas production in the area have plagued the Navajo Nation with higher rates of asthma and other respiratory diseases.²
This plan would further sacrifice the region’s cultural integrity, endanger communities, and jeopardize clean air, water, and the climate in a region that is already overburdened by environmental injustice!
Now it's time for us to REJECT this plan outright.
The plan and its accompanying Environmental Impact Statement fails to use the best available science to analyze and assess climate, air quality, health, and cultural impacts.
Together, we’ve proven that when we stick together, change can happen.
We must keep doing everything we can to make sure this administration doesn’t get away with exacerbating the climate crisis in the middle of a pandemic.
Let’s join together to call for a new land management plan that considers the health of surrounding communities and the impacts on our environment, NOT a plan that rubber stamps more disastrous fracking in a community that is already overburdened.
Food & Water Action and its affiliated organization, Food & Water Watch, are advocacy groups with a common mission to protect our food, water and climate. This email was sent to [email protected] - and we're glad you got it, because it's one of the most important ways you can reclaim political power, hold elected officials accountable and resist corporate control.
